Many systems have been proposed for the control of motor vehicles along a roadway through the use of sensors on the vehicle which cooperate with signal devices on the roadway for determining the position of the vehicle on the roadway. The signal devices on the roadway can take the form of electrical wires or magnetic material embedded in the roadway surface at predetermined locations, such as along the center of a lane, at the edges of a lane or some other predetermined location or pattern. The sensors are positioned on the vehicle to detect proximity to the signal areas of the roadway, as by a magnetic pickup for example, and the sensors therefore develop signals indicative of the position of the vehicle with respect to the predetermined signal area of the roadway. The prior systems use electronic controls which operate from the position signals to provide steering commands to automatically steer the car along the roadway. Such systems promise the potential of safer travel by reducing or eliminating accidents due to vehicles straying off the appropriate lane of travel and colliding with other vehicles or objects.
Despite the potential advantages of such systems, and despite the fact that a number of such systems have been proposed over a number of years in the prior art, motor vehicle guidance systems for roadways have not come into practical widespread use. It is believed that the reason such systems have not come into widespread use is because of their cost, both in terms of the signal devices for the roadway as well as the cost of the equipment for the vehicles, and also because of concern as to the complexity and reliability of the systems. My copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 88,604, filed Oct. 26, 1979, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,310,862 discloses a relatively low cost but effective way of making magnetized control strips for roadways, and the present invention provides a simple, yet reliable and effective control apparatus for the moving vehicle to provide steering commands either to a driver or to an automatic steering servo system, as well as speed control signals to a driver or an automatic speed control when approaching speed zones, dangerous curves, and the like.